


Do Come Back

by ScrapyardBoyfriends



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 14:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9128488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScrapyardBoyfriends/pseuds/ScrapyardBoyfriends
Summary: After his wedding is postponed, Robert returns to Emmerdale to help Andy with the farm, while Jack recovers from his heart attack and bypass surgery.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So...first of all, clearly I can't write short chapters, which brings me to my next point in that I don't know how long this will take me to write, but I'll try to keep plugging away at it if people are interested. I have most of it planned out and half of it outlined. So...we shall see...

[September 24, 2014]

‘Welcome to Emmerdale’ the sign says, mocking him as his car idles in front of it. Robert’s foot lays tentatively over the brake pedal, his shin straining to hold it there as he wavers over what to do. Finally, he shifts his foot over to the gas pedal and presses down slowly, pushing past the sign. Rolling green hills and farmland surround him and he feels like they are closing in on him, compressing him until he might just blink out of existence. It might be better that way. He is seriously regretting his decision to come back here. He eases off of the gas pedal again, thankful that no one is behind him. He could just put his foot back on the brake, put the car in reverse, turn around and forget he ever got this close again. Only he can’t, because the idiot that he is, he went and told them he was coming. Chrissie was standing there, staring at him, challenging him so he had to. He called up his brother and he’ll never forget the shock in Andy’s voice when he realized it was him and that he was coming back. He can’t leave yet. He knows that. He has to see this through. Pressing his foot down hard on the gas, he feels the engine of the Audi rev around him as he goes speeding down the old country road towards home.

He bypasses all of the familiar sites of the village and heads straight for the cemetery. There are flowers resting on the passenger seat of his car, purple ones he knows she would have liked. Stopping the car, he gathers them up under his arm and heads into the graveyard, tugging at the collar of his leather jacket as the breeze rushes past his ears. It has been a long time, but he still finds her headstone with a practiced ease and crouches down in front of it, resting a hand on top of the strong, sturdy stone to steady himself. There are old flowers laying there on the ground, withered and dead. He brushes them aside and puts his fresh ones out, arranging them nicely. The rest of this display of stubbornness might backfire spectacularly but he is glad that he gets to do this, to see his mum again even if it's just her name carved into a bit of stone. Running his fingers over the letters, he breathes out a quiet hello and asks for a bit of luck before he gets back to his feet. He's not alone, he sees, watching a young guy in a black hoodie pour a can of beer out next to the grave he's visiting and hold his own up with a morbid ‘cheers mate’ to go with it. Shaking his head, he leaves them in peace. 

Robert heads back to his car, driving slowly down Main Street. The Woolpack stands there the same as ever and he wonders if he went in there if he'd find Diane still behind the bar serving out pints like always. His sister works there now, he knows. When Victoria had tracked him down last year thanks to the miracle of Facebook, she'd told him she had just left the B&B to work as a chef under Marlon Dingle. He had wished her luck with that one, apparently necessary, since every time they spoke she was going on about how much he annoyed her. Something about not letting her touch his precious knives. He chuckles at the thought. The Tenant House looms before him next but he drives by it quick, not wanting to focus on all of the bad memories. There's Pear Tree Cottage, he sees, and thinks about the fact that all of the Kings are gone now except Jimmy apparently who’s married to Nicola of all people. He can't really see that working well. Bitterly, he also considers how he was sort of the one who started the destruction of the Kings with Max. 

You drive away and you don't come back. 

He never did listen very well. Putting his foot down on the gas again, he speeds off in the direction of what used to be Wylie's farm. There’s a strange rattling in his car by the time he gets there. Of course he would run over something on these decrepit roads that would screw up his car. He’ll have to get it looked at later though the new name on the sign above the garage, Dingle and Dingle, doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence in their abilities. 

Pulling up to the farmhouse, he gets his first good look at it. It used to be abandoned when he was a kid. Vic’s sent him pictures but it’s nothing like seeing it in person, Sugden Farm, written proudly on the sign outside. He’s glad it’s all new though; he’s not sure he could have handled slinking back into Butler’s or the Tenant House. Even this, it’s almost too much, he thinks, his hand shaking on the gear shift as he puts the car into park. He wishes he could go back in time three days. He’d be standing in the international terminal at Heathrow, carry on in one hand, his other wrapped around Chrissie’s waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. They’d be preparing to board their flight to Mexico and this time everything would go off without a hitch. Instead, his no good, maybe never to be father in law, faked a heart murmur just to spite him, sent Chrissie into a frenzy and left him burning with frustration. 

“How can you even think about the wedding right now!” Chrissie had shouted at him when they had finally gotten home after Lawrence had been given the all clear at the hospital. “My dad just had a heart attack!” 

“Oh please!” he sneered. “At least my dad had the sense to have a real heart attack!” 

Her mouth opened wide then, a look of affronted shock plastered on her face. “Not all of us are as selfish as you are Robert! I asked you if you wanted to call off the wedding but you said he wasn’t going to ruin it for you. So don’t-”

“So instead, you let your dad ruin our wedding just because he hates me!” 

“He doesn’t-”

 

“He does,” Robert said firmly.

It was the truth after all. Lawrence hadn’t been able to stand him since had first asked Chrissie out on a date, bitter old man. Robert wondered what he would think if he knew he had had both of his daughters. How jealous would he be then, knowing he’d never have him to himself. Maybe he should have just run off with Rebecca when she had given him the chance, at least then he would be hated with good reason and he’d be out of here. Chrissie, though, came with a home and a built in family, even if Lachlan was a bit weird, and a good job. Chrissie gave him a life he thought he could be proud of, a life he thought his father might be proud of. There was no way he could turn his back on that. But, standing there in the kitchen of her father’s house in London, while Lawrence “recovered” upstairs when his own father was at home in Emmerdale, actually recovering from an actual heart attack while Andy struggled on the farm, he couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t what Jack would have wanted at all. Vic had called him when it happened, a week ago now, said she didn’t know how Andy was going to cope with the farm on his own. He had told her he couldn’t come back, that he was getting married. The disappointment in her voice had been nearly enough to make him fold under the guilt trip she was laying on thick but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t go back. 

“He does not hate you. You’re being ridiculous. And I won’t hear another word about the wedding until he’s better. Do you understand me?” Chrissie’s sharp voice dragged him back into the present conversation. 

“He’s fine now!” he argued, perching on the edge of one of the chairs around the breakfast bar, rubbing his hands up and down his thighs. “But my dad’s not…” 

“What’s that?” Chrissie asked. “Speak up Robert!” 

“I said, my dad’s not fine, so maybe while you’re here tending to your father’s fake heart problems, I should be home, helping my dad with his real ones, helping Andy on the farm.” 

Chrissed laughed then, a sharp shrill laugh, incredulous at the very idea and that had only made him want to do it more, just to piss her off. 

“You think I won’t do it, don’t you,” he challenged her. 

“You’ve rarely had a kind word to say about either your dad or your brother when you bother to mention them at all,” Chrissie pointed out. “So, no, I don’t think you’ll do it.” 

Robert pulled out his phone then, scrolled through his contacts until he found the number Vic had given him for Andy. He had never used it but now his finger hovered over the button and upon hearing Chrissie huff at him in annoyance and disbelief, he pressed down. The dial ringing sounded both far away and far too loud as he put the phone up to his ear. His mouth was dry and his breathing shallow as it rang, once, twice and he hoped that Andy just wouldn’t pick up. 

He had picked up though and now here he is, stubbornly sitting outside Sugden Farm, terrified to go in, terrified to see Andy, to see Jack after all this time. Robert moves his hand from the gear shift and pulls his keys from the ignition, jingling them in his hand for a second as he stares at the door, panicking like the coward that he is. There’s no more time to think about it though because the front door is opening and Andy is walking out towards his car. His stomach does a flip and his first instinct is to slide down in the seat and hide but his pride won’t let him. He won’t let Andy get the better of him. Chrissie may be angry with him right now but she’ll thaw eventually, he reminds himself, and even though he’s come back to help, he made Lawrence promise him before he left that his job was secure and he agreed he would work from here when he was able. So he still has the fiance and the job; he is doing just fine for himself and he feels the need to prove it to Andy. 

Plastering on a smug grin that he’s perfected in his years away, he straightens himself up and gets out of the car, tossing his keys up in the air nonchalantly and catching them with ease. “Alright bro,” he says, his voice brimming with confidence. 

Andy stops just short of him, looking him over cautiously. There’s a sharp contrast between the two of them, Andy standing there in his tired, worn out overalls and Robert in a crisp button down shirt, designer jeans and an italian leather jacket, perfectly fitted over his broad shoulders. His brother just shakes his head at him, like he’s hardly impressed, and Robert wants to shrink away back into his car and drive off. Instead, he forces himself to stand his ground. 

“Didn’t think you’d actually come,” Andy says finally. 

“Well, here I am,” Robert says with an extra smirk and then adds, “Where’s the rest of the welcoming party?”

“Vic’s at work,” Andy tells him. 

“And Katie?” Robert asks, standing up a little taller, “Vic said she’d finally gone through the rest of the village and decided she might as well give you another go.” 

Andy’s hands are on him before he can even blink, fists wrapped around the leather of his jacket as his back is slammed into the door of his Audi behind him. “If you’re just here to cause trouble, Rob, you can get right back in this car and do as Dad said all those years ago-”

“What? Drive away and don't come b-”

“Don't come back, yeah that’s right!” Andy punches the words into him, making damn sure he’s heard. 

Robert shoves down the feelings threatening to bubble to the surface. “What, afraid she’ll end up in my bed again, are you? Only it wasn’t just in the bed, mind you, it was in the shower, up against the wall-”

He’s pushing his luck now and he knows it as Andy releases his grip on his jacket with one hand, balling it up into a fist and pulling it back, ready to smash it into this face. Something about being back here, about standing face to face with Andy again, just turns him into this. Jerking free of his brother’s grasp, he throws his hands up in surrender. 

“Woah woah woah,” the words stumble out of his mouth. “What would Dad think if you start punching me already?” He could make a dig about Jo, he knows. Vic had told him all about Andy’s second wife and what happened but he holds it in, as hard as it is. He knows he should try and make this work.

“Don’t think he’d much mind if he knew what you said,” Andy spits at him. 

“Look,” he bites his tongue again. He’s probably right, Jack wouldn’t care, but if he’s coming back here, finally perhaps a man his dad can be proud of, he should probably make an effort. “I’m...sorry.” It’s hard for him to get out the words because he’s not sure he really means it...at all. “I’m not here to cause trouble, not for you, or for Katie. I have my own fiance now. I just came to help, like I said on the phone.” 

“One wrong move, Rob,” Andy warns him before he drops his fist to his side and lets his fingers unfurl, though the tension does not leave his body. 

“Yeah, yeah, don't come back, I got it,” Robert mumbles as he pops the boot and pulls out his suitcase and laptop bag. “How is he by the way, Dad, I mean?” He trips over the words like an idiot as he slings the expensive leather bag over his shoulder and follows Andy toward the farmhouse. 

“He’s doing okay. He’s resting upstairs,” Andy says as he holds the door open for him. 

Robert walks in and even though it’s not his home anymore, never was, it still feels like more of a home than the massive house he lives in with the Whites down in London and that catches him off guard. He’d gotten used to the spacious rooms and furniture that was more stylish than actually comfortable, art hanging on the walls instead of family photographs. Most of the pictures he sees are of Andy and Jack and Victoria, Andy’s kids, two of them now. There’s one that catches his eye though, the only one that actually seems to have him in it. He’s just a little kid in it, up on Jack’s shoulders, a massive grin on his face like it was the happiest moment of his life. Might have been, he thinks though it’s sad how much it might be true. That was before Sarah died, before Andy came along, before Jack realized just what a disappointment he was and traded him in for a better model. His chin quivers and he blinks back a persistent tear. 

“He heard your car pull up,” Andy is saying. “Makes a bit of a racket for such a flash thing, don’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Robert sighs, feeling all the fight drained out of him. “Ran over something or other on the way here.” 

“You should go upstairs and see him,” Andy suggests. “He didn’t believe you were coming when I told him either.” 

Like father like son, Robert thinks bitterly as he starts moving towards the stairs. 

“End of the hall, on your right,” Andy calls after him. 

Every step he climbs, it feels like his limbs get heavier, the stairs creaking under his weight. By the time he reaches the top and stands there looking down the hall, he feels like he might just sink through the floor. It takes all his effort and concentration just to put one foot in front of the other to get him moving down the hall. Robert’s not sure if he ever thought he would see his dad again at this point. When he first left, he was hurt and stubborn. It’s not like he wasn’t planning to leave anyway, but the added layer of having Jack tell him to go stung a lot. He had some money saved up, but London was by no means easy those first few months, first couple of years really. 

For the first two years, he worked as a mechanic at dingy garage, didn’t like it, but it was a skill he possessed at the time. He wanted more though and he spent his free time applying to every dealership he could even though he didn’t exactly have the qualifications. Finally, someone took a chance on him. Work at the dealership paid better even if he did still hate being just a mechanic, so in his off hours, he would hang around the sales lot. He made a bet with one of the sales reps that he could sell more cars than him in a day and when he had won, they had offered him a job. A few years later and Lawrence had come in, looking for a new car and when he handed him his business card, Robert had seen an opportunity and taken it. Lawrence had been eager to hire him at the time, impressed with his sales abilities at the dealership and pleased with his knowledge of farming equipment from his years in Emmerdale. Finally, growing up on a farm had come in handy. Of course, he was sure Lawrence sorely regretted hiring him now, but that was a different matter. 

It wasn’t until he felt like he had really made it, like he had something to really be proud of that he had even wanted to see Jack, to show him how well he was doing. So much time had passed though, too much time and reaching out seemed near impossible. It wasn’t like Jack had ever tried to get in touch with him. Then Vic had found him and it seemed like at the end of every conversation, she asked if he was ever coming home. To be honest, he hadn’t even known how. Now here he was, standing outside the door to his father’s room. It was now or never. 

Pushing the door open, he found the room dark, only a bit of the morning light seeping in through the blinds on the window. Still, he could make out his father’s form, leaning against a mass of fluffed up pillows behind him that Vic had no doubt put there before she left for work. She had gone on and on to him about the pillows at the hospital. Even in this state, the whites of his eyes shining in the low light as he looked at him standing there, Robert suddenly felt small in Jack’s presence. He felt like he was nineteen again, about to get shouted at for some discretion or another. He knew he should say something, anything, but his mouth was dry and his brain couldn’t function enough to find the words. 

“Nearly had another heart attack when Andy told me you were coming,” Jack breaks the silence for him, his voice sounding tired but no less strong. 

“You’re the one who told me to leave and never come back,” Robert says. The words are out before he even realizes it. It’s instinctual, his defensive nature. He can’t actually figure out how to turn it off. 

Jack scoffs at him, coughing into his shoulder for a moment. His voice is a little more hoarse when he speaks again. “You’d made quite a mess of things. It was what was best.” 

For you maybe, he thinks. There were times those first few months that he had hardly had enough money to scrape together for the rent on his tiny flat but there had been no way at the time that he was going to call Jack for help. He had managed somehow. That was who he was. 

“What happened to the big Mexican wedding that Victoria told me about?” Jack changed the subject and added coldly, “since you actually bother to speak with her.” 

Like you would want to hear from me, Robert thinks bitterly. “Postponed,” he finally answers. 

“What did you do?”

Anger flares inside of him, his fingers curling into fists at his sides, his feet edging forward like he actually plans to throttle his father who lays there helplessly recovering from bypass surgery. “Why do you assume it was me that did something?” he settles for shouting instead. 

Jack doesn’t even flinch. “Because it’s always you, Robert.”

It shouldn’t hurt anymore but it does. 

“What about that fancy company of yours?” he asks, changing the subject again, leaving him reeling. “Shouldn’t you be working for them?”

“It’s agricultural machinery. I thought you’d approve,” he sighs, feeling defeated. “And I’m still going to work for them from here, when I can.” 

“So you can’t even be fully committed to your family when your father has had a heart attack?” 

Robert opens his mouth, but he doesn’t even know what to say to that so he closes it again, his shoulders slumping. He shouldn’t have come back here. It’s clear he’s not really wanted by anyone except Victoria. 

“Sorry to disturb the reunion,” Andy’s voice comes as a welcome interruption from the still open doorway. “Rob, thought I’d show you around a bit, see if you still remember how to do some hard graft.” 

Robert feels so grateful to Andy for saving him from this conversation that he lets the dig slide and just follows him silently out of the room. His brother has him trading in his designer clothes for a pair of ill fitting overalls before he can even blink and then they’re out on the farm and he’s getting the tour. He’s looking at barns and the stables where Katie keeps her horses and her riding business and sheep and he’s bored before they even get to the cattle, remembering how much he really does hate working a farm. Even if it’s out of spite though, he’s determined to prove Jack wrong. He’ll stay and he will help for as long as he’s needed and he’ll even try to do it without complaining...much. Andy’s explaining the cattle business to him and he’s trying desperately to pay attention even though he couldn’t care less if he tried. Apparently they supply the Woolpack with meat as well as some local grocery stores, hard fought battles won against the Barton family who took over the tenancy of Butler’s farm when Andy couldn’t cope with it anymore. That was when Jack had returned from Spain, Vic had told him. Annie had been sick but she was doing better and so he came back and saved poor Andy and they had bought this place. 

When they’re done with the cattle, Andy brings him to a fence that needs mending. He’s pretty sure he could handle it on his own but his brother seems determined to keep an eye on him, which grates on him, but he’s trying. There’s a post that needs hammering into the ground but he’s struggling and Andy comes over and knocks it in easily with his massive arms in two good strokes.

“I would have gotten it eventually,” Robert mutters, grabbing the hammer out of his hands so he can go get a plank of wood for the next section. 

“If you say so,” Andy laughs at him, looking at his lack of muscle. 

Robert goes to hammer a nail into the horizontal piece and Andy leans over him to inspect what he’s doing. “I have put up a fence before,” he reminds him. 

“Yeah ten years ago maybe,” Andy says. 

“Oh and have I missed the latest developments in the art of fence mending?” Robert scoffs. “I’m pretty sure it’s exactly the same as it was ten years ago.” 

“Fine, fine. Have at it,” Andy shakes his head at him, throwing up his arms. “I need to go meet Paddy anyway. He’s coming to take a look at a sick cow.” 

Robert wrenches a vague memory of the bumbling vet with the bad hair out of his mind. “Yeah, cheers,” he says as he lines up a nail and readies the hammer, “Have fun with that.” 

When Andy returns a few hours later, Katie is with him, literally looking down at him from her high horse. He’s got a nearly fully mended fence to show for himself though and even Andy looks somewhat pleased. Of course he’s exhausted and muscles he hasn’t used in years are aching more than he’d ever actually admit. 

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Katie says. 

Andy doesn’t say a word, just walks around, looking at his work so Robert prompts him, fishing for a compliment, “Go on then, admit it, you’re impressed.” 

“You were never impressive, Robert,” Katie mutters from above him. 

Robert grinds his teeth together, trying his hardest not to rise to the bait, but it hurts. He knows it’s his fault they didn’t work out. No matter how much he tried to deny it back then, he did cheat on her with Sadie, but it still stings a bit that she went straight back to Andy after that like he had meant nothing to her. She and Andy hadn’t exactly worked out then of course, but now they were here, back together again and somehow that just pissed him off. 

“Oh come on Katie, we both know that’s a lie. Besides, the way I hear it, you’re easily impressed. Must be why you’ve been with half the village since I’ve been away.” And he failed. Even as he says the words, he’s bracing himself for Andy’s reaction. 

“Robert, I warned you!” Andy shouts at him, lunging toward him. “One wrong move-”

“Oh he’s not worth it, Andy,” Katie says. “He doesn’t bother me anymore.” 

Andy stops short of him at her words, dropping his fists to his sides. “You’ve not got anymore chances, you hear me Robert.” 

Robert just nods, thinking it better he just keeps his mouth shut from now on. He’ll get in less trouble that way at least. 

Andy turns back to the fence, looking it over once more, pushing on some of the sections to test them out. “I wouldn’t say I’m impressed, but you did do a halfway decent job,” he admits, through gritted teeth. 

Robert will take that at this point. 

There’s an awkward silence between the three of them, no one quite knowing what to say. Robert shuffles back and forth on his feet before starting to pack up, assuming since Andy came back to check on him that he’s done for the day. He’s honestly not sure he could do anymore and he’s already dreading what tomorrow’s going to bring. 

“Look,” Andy says eventually. “Dad’s just fallen asleep. Why don’t we head to the Woolpack for our tea and you can use all that money you’ve got now to buy us a round or summat?” He pauses and then adds, “Besides, I’m sure Vic wants to see you. Her shift will be over soon and she can join us.” He pauses again and looks up at Katie and then over at him. “Katie? Rob?” 

“Fine,” they both reply. 

The Woolpack hasn’t changed too much in the years since he’s been away, except now apparently Chas Dingle owns half of it. The Dingles certainly have gone up in the world since he left. Diane is there behind the bar when they walk in and her eyebrows raise in surprise at the sight of him. Before he can say anything though, she turns toward the back and pokes her head into the hallway. They’re not together anymore, Diane and his dad. She cheated on him and he went off to Spain and when he came back, VIc said too much time had passed and they just didn’t know how to come back to each other anymore. They had separated formally after Jack and Andy had bought the farm, though they had never actually divorced. Vic still held out hope for them even if she was dating some man named Doug now. Seeing her though, she still sort of feels like his step-mum, well she is technically, but he isn’t quite sure what the rules are anymore. 

Vic bursts out of the back with a massive grin on her face, Diane trailing behind her. “Robert!” she practically screeches in his direction. 

He can’t help himself but smile to match hers and lets out a laugh. It’s rare that someone is that excited to see him. “Miss me?” he asks. 

Vic doesn’t answer with words, just simply rounds the bar and throws her arms around him, her head barely coming up to his shoulder. He’s stumbles back a few steps at the sheer ferocity of her hug before he gets his arms in order to return it. 

“I guess that’s a yes,” he chuckles. 

“It’s so good to have you home,” she says, her voice muffled against his chest. 

When she finally detaches from him and stands back, his breath catches for a second at how much she’s grown up in the last nine years. Even though he’s seen pictures of her and has been talking to her for more than a year now, it still throws him that she’s not that eleven year old girl he left behind anymore. 

“It’s great to see you Vic,” he says and he means it. She’s the one person he was looking forward to seeing again. Certainly not Chas who comes out from the back, glaring at him after a quick smile at Katie. So they’re still close obviously. Not Nicola either, who sits in a booth with Jimmy King, her mouth gaping open at his presence. Clearly no one had warned the village that he was coming back. 

“Well Marlon’s just got in, so I can join you now,” Vic says cheerfully, “if that’s alright, Diane.” 

“Of course, pet,” Diane says sweetly. 

Vic takes off her blue chef’s hat and goes to join Andy and Katie in the booth they’ve secured as Robert heads to the bar to get the drinks in. “Two pints, please Diane,” he says feeling like he’s gone back in time, “and a white wine and…” He doesn’t actually know what Vic would want. 

“Two white wines, pet,” Diane tells him. 

He nods in thanks. 

“It’s good to see you Robert,” she says as she starts to pull the first pint. 

“I think you and Vic are the only ones who feel that way,” he replies, glancing around the rest of the pub. Debbie Dingle walks in with some tall, bearded bloke and he shrinks back a bit from her look of disdain. He hadn’t exactly treated her well before he had left either. 

“Well you’re doing a good thing, coming back to help Andy with the farm,” Diane assures him. “Don’t let any of this lot tell you different.” 

“Thanks Diane. It’s good to see you too,” he gives her a smile as he gathers up the drinks and brings them over to the table. 

“So how was your first day on the farm?” Vic asks as he sits down. 

“It was fine,” he says as he adjusts his position against the worn cushions of the booth, his back aching. 

“In a little pain there Rob?” Andy laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. I-” 

“If he sticks around that long,” Katie cuts in. 

“Oh don’t be boring, Katie,” Vic tells her, sticking up for him. It feels good to have his little sister on his side. “Can’t we just have a nice meal. I’ve finally got both my brothers here and I’d actually like to enjoy it.” 

“He did alright for his first day,” Andy says in attempt to ease the situation and placate Vic. 

Whatever the reason, Robert is glad for it as they ease into this strange and awkward family dynamic. He does actually want to make this work, now that he's here, for the most part anyway. He doesn't want to disappoint Vic at least and he'd like to prove to Jack that he's not the waste of space he remembers. If that means making nice with Andy and Katie, then he'll have to grin and bare it for now. Things mostly seem to settle now except when Marlon comes out to take their order and gets snippy with Victoria when she won’t order the special because she doesn’t think he makes it as well as she does. Still before he knows it they’re on their second round of drinks, picking at the remainder of their dinners and chatting about old times, carefully avoiding all of the difficult subjects. It’s almost pleasant if he doesn’t think too hard about it. The alcohol is helping. 

Later, Robert brings back a third round of drinks to the table, treating them again. Vic gladly accepts her wine, swishing it around in her glass before taking a sip. “Must be nice having all that money,” she says, her words starting to slur just a little bit. Clearly she’s a bit of a lightweight. “Bet you’ve got a right fancy house down in London and there’s all those flash cars you were going on about.” 

“Those flash cars don’t do him any good round here,” Andy chuckles, “You really should get that car looked at.” 

Vic looks at him confused. 

“Country roads and all that,” he sighs. “Ran over something didn’t I.” He pauses and looks around the bar, seeing that Debbie has gone and that Chas has disappeared again. “Not sure I want to get it checked out here though considering the garage has been overrun by Dingles. Probably steal it rather than fix it.” 

“What was that?” A bloke who had been sitting at the bar turns around in his seat to scowl at him. Robert recognizes him as the man he’d seen in the cemetery earlier, though this time he’s getting a better look at him as he stalks over to their table, all tightly wound, blue eyes blazing. He plants his hands on the edge of their table, leaning over to glare at him, his cheeks flushed red. “What? My family not up to your posh standards?” 

Another Dingle, great, he sighs to himself, of course. He thought he’d been in the clear. How was he supposed to be aware of all of the new editions? There were always too many of them. He tries to glare back, stand his ground on his statement but he finds himself getting a bit lost, staring into the new Dingle’s eyes. He’s leaned in so close now, he can feel his breath, hot on his face. His stomach flutters a bit and he pulls back immediately like he’s been burned. There’s no way this is happening. Not here, not in Emmerdale. Suddenly he’s fifteen again staring at that lad who had been helping on the farm that summer. It’s not like he’s not been attracted to blokes since, it’s not even like this one is even an option in any way, but still, it’s way too close to home. 

“Oh Aaron, relax,” Vic says, breaking the tension between them. “He’s just being an idiot-”

“As usual,” Andy adds in. 

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it, right Rob?” Vic prompts him. 

He looks up at the man again, Aaron, but quickly looks away, shaking his head. “No, course not.” 

“Good,” Vic beams. “Now, maybe Aaron can look at your car. He’s a Livesy anyway, so you’re safe.” 

“I-” Robert tries to answer. 

“You know, Robert used to work at the garage too,” Vic continues. “Maybe you two can work on the car together?”

Robert cringes, panicking slightly. “I don’t know Vic, I haven’t been a mechanic for years.” 

“What’s the matter, lost your touch?” Aaron pushes him. 

He clenches his fist under the table, not wanting to let this guy get the better of him in front of Andy and Katie, the latter who is smirking at him now. “As if,” he blurts out, covering it with a smug grin. 

“Well then,” Vic decides, “That’s settled then! You want to join us Aaron?” 

Robert’s heart is racing as he watches Aaron contemplate his answer, hoping he opts out of this awkward situation they have found themselves in. He’s not sure he can sit across the table from him for the rest of the night. He just wants to drink the rest of his pint and bury this feeling back down where it belongs. He’s getting married for god’s sakes and despite the fact that he had cheated on Chrissie with Rebecca when they were dating, he was really trying to be faithful to her since they got engaged. Besides, Aaron hardly looks like the type to be up for it anyway. They’ll just fix his car and that will be the end of it. 

Aaron chews on the corner of his lower lip and fidgets with the ends of the sleeves on his hoodie, pulling them half over his hands. “Nah, you’re alright,” he says finally. “I’ll just come up to the farm tomorrow, take a look at the car if that’s okay with you?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Robert says quickly and watches him walk away, leaving his half finished pint on the bar and heading into the back. 

“Making friends quickly, I see Robert,” Katie digs at him. 

Robert grabs his drink and downs half of it in one gulp, wishing it were stronger. Welcome home, he thinks.


End file.
